Tagged: Samons

Prof. Samons gave his famous Trireme lecture last Tuesday – a most exciting highlight of CC101 according to our alumni! Refresh your memory with some select quotes from previous years: “Triremes were built to kill. You can’t have fun on a trireme. You can’t water-ski behind one. You can’t hold an afternoon BBQ on one. […]

Alumnus Michelle Kwock occupies a summer afternoon reading What’s Wrong With Democracy by Core Humanities lecturer, and chair of the Classics department, Prof. Jay Samons. Would you care to be a featured Core Reader here on the Core blog? Just send us a photo, by attachment to core@bu.edu, showing you reading a Core or Core-related […]

Due to an emergency which has forced Prof. Jay Samons to cancel his campus obligations today, today’s promised Lunch Box Talk on the topic of democracy is also canceled. Prof. Formichelli, the series organizer, extends her regrets to those of you this news disappoints. If another Lunch Box Talk session is scheduled before the end […]

“Triremes were built to kill. You can’t have fun on a trireme. You can’t water-ski behind one. You can’t hold an afternoon BBQ on one. You can’t do anything but kill on a trireme.” “Why did the Athenians beat the Persians? Because the Persians showed up to the wars with wicker shields. Wicker. The Persians […]

Each spring, Core and Classics students work with Prof. Stephanie Nelson and assorted faculty to stage a dramatic reading of one of the bawdy comic plays of Aristophanes. Tomorrow night, you’re invited to attend their production of The Wasps. In the Core/Classics re-invention of the play, the character Loathcleon tries to save Lovecleon (representing all […]

In these few weeks before the freshmen begin registering for their Fall 2011 courses on April 17th, several Core faculty and alumni will be sharing their answers to the question, Why take the Core? In this first installment, Prof. Jay Samons of the Department of Classical Studies, places Core in a historical perspective. Tomorrow, he’ll […]

The problem with storytelling is that it appeals to the desirous part of the soul and not the rational — that’s why Socrates has such a problem with it. So, my question is: Would it be just to ban Sophocles and his plays in the city of Athens, when they clearly show a deep understanding […]

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The Core Blog is a hub for information and media related to the CAS Core Curriculum at Boston University. It will be updated regularly, with photo galleries, interviews, links to related reading online, news of events or activities, and other kinds of content that help connect our Core people—prospective, current, and former students—with each other.
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